Getting academic research published and read

The topic of academic publishing has recently been making news in its own right. In the UK and elsewhere, the momentum behind the open access movement has gathered, with growing support for academic research outputs to be made freely available to the public. Even for many academics themselves, however, getting to grips with how research gets published at all – whomever the audience – is a steep learning curve. New mandates from research councils to make published research open access also mean academics potentially need to be even more mindful of where and how they publish.

Earlier this year, the Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) and Wiley-Blackwell launched a new free guide for researchers on publishing and getting read. The guide is intended for authors at all career stages, whether new to academic publishing or seasoned scholars wanting to know more about copyright, bibliometrics or open access. The guide is intended to help researchers to:

Publish their research in a wide range of forms

Think strategically about publication profiles and plans

Understand their opportunities and responsibilities

Get their published research read

Also available is a guide to ‘Communicating geographical research beyond the academy’ and case study handouts about different aspects of academic dissemination. These resources could help researchers to negotiate the route through academic publishing, and provide an accessible guide for those outside of academia wanting to know more about how research gets published.

Publishing and getting read: a guide for researchers in geography (Download free PDF)